As the attached chart shows, investors are moving in much more slowly than a decade ago, or even two years ago.

There are other reasons, too. At least through Sept. 30, we haven’t seen the kind of suggestive surge in foreign activity in the country’s biggest stock — Samsung (SSNLF, 005930) — that we might see in an overheated market. Most of the big moves in the stock as of Sept. 30 were undertaken by passive investing vehicles, FactSet Research Systems data shows.

The $4.5 billion iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (EWY) is one of the recent Samsung buyers. It has enjoyed $898 million in investor inflows year-to-date, XTF data show. The other big mover is iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM),where Samsung often sees money coming and going — the stock is the #1 weight in the ETF, at about 4%.

Both ETFs are bound to buy this stock when investors buy the index. So don’t read too much into the trend.

Another familiar fund name showing up as a Samsung buyer last quarter: DFA Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio (DFCEX).

Then you can look to the country’s decided non-frothy valuations. Credit Suisse’s strategists this week call the country “the second cheapest market” by its modeling, and they say it possesses the strongest expected earnings-per-share growth in non-Japan Asia next year.

About Focus on Funds

As exchange-traded funds and other investing vehicles have ballooned in number, the task of figuring out what works well and what doesn’t has only gotten harder. Barrons.com’s Focus on Funds looks under the hood of ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds for overlooked values, actionable ideas and the latest pitfalls for fund investors.

Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.